Colchester?

zara*elise

BornAtTheRightTime wrote: »

Are you referring to its aptly-named nightclub and casino area, Bas Vegas?!

Ah Bas Vegas. The Hollywood of Essex (if the sign on Basildon Hills is anything to be believed).

mirandab

I moved to Colchester 12 years ago, I live in a village on the outskirts. Areas to avoid I would say are Greenstead and Monkwick.

HTH
Miranda

nikki_angel

Yep Greenstead and Monkwick are the worst of the areas. Newtown isn't great either. I'd go for somewhere like Lexden, Myland or some parts of Highwoods. If you want to PM me with road names, if I know them then I'll give an honest opinion.

firstaspect

Colchester is lovely, I lived there for a while. Greenstead definately the worst area. I'd recommend Wivenhoe, lovely little suburb and is great in the summer to sit by the water.

scarletjim

I live right in the town, my family have lived here for several generations...

Yes definitely avoid Greenstead and immediate surrounding area, nasty (and I do know from first hand experience ).

Too far to commute to London? Hmmm, well you wouldn't think that if you saw the station in the morning, millions of commuters! We are about 50/55 mins from Liverpool Street (Inter-City) or about 65 mins on slow train (but at least then you get a seat). And Liverpool street is right in the City, so less than 5 mins walk from Old Broad Street etc.

Personally I think the town is getting more 'scummy' each year, more wasters wandering around in the daytime with muscular wild dog in one hand and burger/lager in the other, but perhaps that's a national thing, as I know lots of people who say the same about other towns.

Happy to comment on anything else you want to know.

la_farfallina

Thank you all for your comments. I will definitely avoid Greenstead.

The job is at Colchester general and I don't drive, therefore I will need to live somewhere easily commutable to and from the hospital.

Farf x

pinkteapot

nikki_angel wrote: »

Yep Greenstead and Monkwick are the worst of the areas. Newtown isn't great either. I'd go for somewhere like Lexden, Myland or some parts of Highwoods. If you want to PM me with road names, if I know them then I'll give an honest opinion.

Lexden is lovely but inordinately expensive. It has the grammar schools and some private schools.

I live in the Myland area and I like it (hubby and I both commute to London so we needed to be close to the station).

Where in Colchester is your job? Traffic from Myland to get to the town centre can be bad in rush hour as there is a bottleneck around the station. In fact, as with most towns traffic can be lousy in rush hour so you're probably best living on the same side of town as your job! (unless your job is in Greenstead or Monkwick as others have said)

Are you looking at buying or renting? Colchester is a big place so I'd suggest renting first to get a feel for it.

Colchester is known as a garrison town, but the population ignoring the barracks is large, so it doesn't feel like an army town. On a Saturday night it's fairly studenty but any town with a university is the same. It's only cheap because of its distance from London. Chelmsford is only 30 mins out so a LOT of London commuters live there. Colchester has less commuters, more people on local salaries, and hence lower house prices. Ipswich is cheaper again for the same reason.

I like Colchester (lots of history and independent shops) and you're only a few miles south of the Suffolk border so you can pretend you don't live in Essex at all.

If you end up moving to a town around Colchester, the places that aren't on the trainline into London are cheaper than those that are.

EDIT: Just seen where your job is. Myland would be perfect for you then - I live practically opposite the hospital. Being a large hospital it's well served by buses so check the bus routes for places you look at. But anywhere walkable of the hospital will be nice - don't know any 'bad' roads in the area and you're close to High Woods Country Park which is fab considering how close to town it is.

FTB001

nic_santorini wrote: »

There is an estate near the University of Essex, called Greenways or Greenfields - something like that - it is a dump, stay away. Places like Wivenhoe are really nice. I like Colchester, but I guess there is no accounting for taste.

Ha ha Grinstead!! Yes definate dump!